Friday 12 May 2017

Take a look at the Sheer Breath-taking Arrogance of this Labour Blogger



I should say at the outset, that I quite like The Skwarkbox blog. It is pro-Labour Party, pro-Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, and the blog has some interesting, informative and entertaining posts on it. It is one of the blogs that I find myself reading from time to time.

But, a post appeared today on The Skwarkbox entitled, ‘Greens have stepped aside in several seats. Why hand Wirral West to Tories?’ The final paragraph of the post implores readers to ‘Please share this post and let’s build a groundswell calling on the Greens to step aside…’ So here I am, sharing the post, but not in an attempt to persuade the local Greens in Wirral to stand aside, far from it. Instead, I’m taking this golden opportunity to highlight the arrogance and sense of entitlement which is sadly commonplace in the ‘people’s party.’

As the Skwarkbox headline informs us, the Green Party have stepped down from standing in ‘several’ seats, particularly where these seats are marginals, mainly in favour of the Labour Party, Ealing central and Acton, Derby North and Brighton Kemptown, amongst them. The Greens have also stood aside for the Lib Dems in seats like Richmond Park and Twickenham in south west London.

Even the Lib Dems threw the Greens a penny, by pulling out of standing against Green MP Caroline Lucas in Brighton Pavilion. I say a penny because the Lib Dems only got 1500 votes in 2015 in this constituency and Caroline’s majority was nearly 7,000, so the Lib Dems didn’t give us much.

Labour has failed to even stand down in hopeless seats for them, in favour of the Greens (or anyone else), that would constitute a symbolic act of electoral fraternity. Take the Isle of Wight, which the Green Party is targeting in next month’s general election for example. The sitting Tory MP, Andrew Turner is standing down, after making homophobic remarks when addressing students at a college on the island.

This was the result of the 2015 general election on the Isle of Wight:

CON 40.7%
UKIP 21.2%
GRN 13.4%
LAB 12.8%
LD 7.4%
IND 4.5%

You will notice that even the combined totals of Green, Lib Dem, Labour and the independent, is less than the Tories total, and that is without the UKIP vote, most of which is likely to go to the Tories this time. In short, this looks like a very safe seat for the Tories. 

In some ways I can understand the Lib Dems standing as they were second in the 2010 general election to the Tories, but Labour has not a cat in hell’s chance of winning this seat. As I say, probably the Greens haven’t either, but what would it have cost Labour to stand down here? Nothing at all, really. But this is just what the Labour Party is like, fiercely tribal, and incredibly arrogant.

The Skwarkbox post also demonstrates a complete misunderstanding of how the Green Party goes about its business. Take this example:

‘The SKWAWKBOX calls on the Green party leadership to get hold of their representatives in Wirral West. The Greens have no realistic prospect of victory…Merseyside would not forgive or forget the Greens persisting in such a short-sighted course of action.’

Note the arrogance, of course, but also this is not the Labour Party where central party diktats are handed down, like in Surrey where three Labour Party activists have been expelled from the party for supporting a National Health Action Party candidate against the Tory Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt. In the Green Party, any decision to stand or not in elections, is left to local parties.

I’m an in principle supporter of a progressive alliance to kick the Tories out, but I’ve always suspected the idea wouldn’t come to much, mainly because of the Labour Party’s attitude, and you can see this amply demonstrated by The Skwarkbox post.

Why doesn’t The Skwarkbox piece recommend that local Labour offer the Greens something in the Wirral area in return for standing down, instead of attempting to bully them via social media? One word, arrogance!

Oh, and the Greens will be taking the seat of Bristol West off Labour this time, and no doubt more seats in the future. Happy electioneering comrades!  

9 comments:

  1. Perhaps a part of the problem with Labour under Corbyn is the prospect of their taking Green Party policies that have been developed over time within the Green Party through debate, and Labour absorbing those policies via the Help shape Labour's mainfesto page of the Labour Party website?

    I was asked by Make Votes Matter to take part in that Labour Party policy formation exercise, so as to emphasise Proportional Representation as part of Labour's manifesto. I declined the offer as I did not want to compromise my Green Party identity too much and blur the boundaries between what Greens have to offer and what Labour has to offer.

    In the event of Labour winning seats by taking Green Party policies for itself, I foresee two principal dangers:

    1: Labour MPs and funders who have no interest in those policies refusing to co-operate with their implementation the other side of a General Election; and
    2: A disinterest in following through with implementing Proportional Representation once they have squashed the Green Party vote by absorbing the votes of tactical voters who want a 'quick fix' approach to getting Proportional Representation.

    Alan Wheatley

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  2. Seems JC scuppered alliances banning local CLP from giving anything back. Chaotic mediocrity still better than May's dictatorial leadership by the nose and over the cliffs of escalating inequality, accelerating climate change and democracies handing over power to corporations and crooks

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    Replies
    1. JC or the Labour executives, who can be a lot more stuck in their ways?

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  3. I haven't read the article but I think you're not seeing the bigger picture. The greens have zero chance of winning at this current time and every vote for a green may as well be a Tory vote. They got in with just 32% of the votes in 2015 because we voted the party we wanted ( I voted green but when JC was made head I joined the Labour Party). If we use our brains instead of our ego and step aside where needed we could have a HUGE landslide for lAbour which will get the tories out. I really don't think I will last another six months under Tory ruling. I have zero funds until
    Next week. Nothing l, not a penny and it's because of the bedroom tax and Esa cuts. I'm losing £66 a week leaving me with £100 and I have a son who gets zero cause he's autistic and won't sign on. We are trying to get him esa but he's scared of the work capability interview.
    Labours manifesto is amazing. It will make life so much easier for so many people and it has no fracking!

    The tories want to bring in fox hunting. It's already hard to stop and it's illegal can you imagine once it's legalised. It's disgusting that this takes precedent over the homeless sick and disabled. I've already tried to kill myself because I'm a burden to my son. And I hate to say it I know I mentally won't be able to cope with my living conditions and my finances. It's not nice when things are cut off and you have to beg for them to be put back on. I was not in arrears with anything until my eldest moved out. Now I'm crippled both financially and physically.

    So please deflate your egos and think about the 10000s of us who are living a nightmare. The tories want you to dig your heels in and you've just given them even more ammunition against labour. So please change your stance and think of those who are truly truly affected by this vicious government. Thank you. Love and light x

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    Replies
    1. There are areas in which the Greens stand a far better chance than Labour. They're standing aside in Labour-likely constituencies in order to unite the anti-Tory vote. The least Labour can do is offer the same in return in heavily-Green constituencies to ensure that under no circumstances does a Tory get in past the split-left vote. It should be about give and take, not take and take (i.e. the Tory way).

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  4. I suggest you read the post, the Greens are doing a lot to help Labour, but Labour is doing sweet fuck all for the Greens.

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    1. I meant I had not read the Labour article. Maybe they haven't done anything because they are focusing all their efforts onto winning the election. Thank you to the greens for what they've done so far. I'm sure labour will repay you once they are at no 10 if you helped them get there. You have to be patient and realise Labour can only have one objective at the moment and that's to win. May is trying to pull a fast one as she thinks JC has
      No chance but he's slowly becoming more and more popular. Please excuse any typos
      I make. It's the end of the day and my thumbs are not at their loosest lol.

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    2. Are you actually kidding? The whole reason Labour collapsed in Scotland was that they assumed that they were the ONLY choice for principled, progressive people. By behaving like everyone OWES it to Labour to support them WHATEVER, they are contributing to their own downfall. Some relatively minor concessions to the Greens would go a long way to building a collegiate approach to defeating the tories.

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  5. I love the assumption that Green leadership can just tell sovereign local parties what to do. Some Labour twonk assuming that because Labour is culturally authoritarian, well..the greens must be too.

    Funnily enough, Greens don't have to ask mummy and daddy at national for permission to do things, and they don't go trawling through peoples social media looking for uber paranoid reasons to purge folk either.

    There's never been a chance of a proper alliance anyway while the Labour rulebook is as it is and while Labour has no alliance with itself.

    We have the nutty spectacle of corbyn suporters being abusive towards potential green voters for not necessarily wanting to vote for MPs who despise corbyn.

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